Chinthana Dharmadasa

Chinthana Dharmadasa (born in November 27, 1976) is a Sri Lankan writer, film director, film critic and a screenwriter who is currently working in the advertising industry. He worked for several periodicals as a writer and directed several short films, music videos, co-directed a feature film and is popularly known as an opinionated blogger and a critic.

Biography

Chinthana graduated from the University of Peradeniya Sri Lanka, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Philosophy and began his career as a media officer and worked in several government institutions. Shortly he moved into print media as a writer and a critic through publications such as the Ravaya weekly journal.

Later he studied film-making under Prasanna Vithanage and made his first short film 'Afterwards, he fell sleep'.^[1] This film was selected into the best category in shorts 2005 film festival, organized by the National Film Corporation, Sri Lanka. With this selection, Chinthana received a one-year film training scholarship at the National Institute for Film, Television and Theatre in Poland popularly known as the Lodz Film School. His second short film 'Insignificant' which told a story of lives of people on the beach after the Tsunami disaster, won the special jury award at the environmental film festival held by Asia Pacific television.

Theater

Chinthana co-directed the stage play "Iris" in 2004 based on Hermann Hesse's short story with same title.

Filmmaking

After making series of short films and music videos with the exposure received through his film education his debut feature 'How I Wonder What You Are',^[2][3][4][5] launched in 2010. This film was written and directed with his friend Udaya Dharmawardhana. It was a turning point in the Sri Lankan independent cinema with its groundbreaking low budget production which brought hope and opened the gates of film making to many young filmmakers.

He is also a visiting lecturer on film studies at 'Sri Palee University',^[6] Digital Film Academy Sri Lanka ^[7] and Sri Lanka Television Training Institute : SLTTI.^[8]

Chinthana is currently working on his next feature film.

Script Writing

As a script writer, Chithana collaborated with Boodee Keerthisena's upcoming film, 'Alone in a valley'.^[9] and Sanjeewa Pushpakumara's debut film 'Flying Fish',..^[10] He is also the scriptwriter of Udaya Dharmawardhana's upcoming French feature film 'Miles of a dream'.^[11]

Writing and Critiques

Chinthana is an active blogger since 2010 and his blog CULT is a popular platform which discusses current social, political and cultural issues. His articles are published weekly in the 'Randiva' national newspaper under the title of his blog Cult. The book 'Cult : Bibili Nangina Belikatu' was published in 2012 which includes a collection of his articles published on the blog.

He also co-authored a book on his film 'How I Wonder What You Are' which was a collective of critiques and reviews received for the film.

Chinthana is a songwriter,^[12][13] and a novelist whose stories are published weekly in a national paper.

Chinthana hosted several film programs at a local television stations Sirasa TV – Art Eka, Siyatha TV- Swaroopana, and Hiru TV- Cult Eka.^[14]

Alternative Screening Platforms

Chinthana adopted an alternative screening method for his debut How I Wonder What You Are which targeted small audiences in different locations. Screenings were organized by various groups that were passionate towards the film.

He then introduced this format of screenings as a platform for other indie filmmakers and film lovers to meet informally and share their thoughts and concepts and co-founded 'Kolamba Talkies'.^[15]

Advertising

Chinthana counts 5 years of experience in the advertising industry as a sinhala copywriter and is currently working at 'Bates CHI & Strategic Alliance'^[16] as an Associate Creative Director.

References